The District of Columbia currently has a delegate in the House, Eleanor Holmes Norton, who is able to vote in committee and on some amendments, but is not allowed to vote on the final passage of a bill. A February report by the Congressional Research Service flagged the potential unconstitutionality of any bill granting a House vote for the District, focusing on the language in Article I, Section 2, Clause 1 of the Constitution that the House is to be comprised by the "people of the several States."

Cuban anti-Castro militant Luis Posada Carriles posted bond and was released from a New Mexico jail on Thursday after ongoing debate about his release. Carriles, 79, a former CIA operative trained by the US for the failed anti-Castro Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, was arrested in 2005 for illegally entering the United States and had been under the custody of immigration officials. Earlier this month, US District Judge Kathleen Cardone ruled that Carriles should be released, and set bail at $250,000. Federal prosecutors filed an emergency motion appealing the ruling, to keep him in jail pending his immigration trial. On Tuesday, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that Carriles could post bond and be released, after ordering a temporary injunction Friday blocking his release until a final ruling this week. Carriles will remain under house arrest and electronic surveillance, as required by the court order.

Carriles is due to be deported for entering the US illegally. A US immigration judge delayed his deportation in 2005, after having determined that Carriles cannot be sent to Venezuela, where he is a naturalized citizen, or to Cuba, the country of his birth, for fears that he would be tortured. Carriles is accused of orchestrating the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner, as well as numerous assassination attempts on Cuban President Fidel Castro, and has previously sought asylum in the US. Earlier this week, a lawyer representing the government of Venezuela accused the US of preventing Carriles' extradition and obstructing justice. Castro issued a statement condemning the district court's ruling [JURIST report]. Carriles is wanted in both countries on terrorism charges.

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) on Thursday sought the dismissal of all pending Guantanamo Bay detainee habeas corpus cases in the US District Court for the District of Columbia. The motion to dismiss was filed in response to the US Supreme Court denying petitions for certiorari earlier this month on two cases challenging the Military Commissions Act (MCA). The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit had upheld the habeas-stripping provisions of the act in February. In Thursday's motion, the DOJ argued that February's motion, and this month's denial of cert, means that all litigation should be in the DC Circuit. The DOJ stressed that lawyers will continue to be allowed to meet with their clients during a "reasonable transition period," but in the future, client-visit priority will be given to lawyers who are pursuing litigation in the DC Circuit court.

The MCA, signed into law last October, denies federal courts the right to hear habeas corpus petitions. Shortly after the bill was enacted, the DOJ notified the DC Circuit that it no longer had authority to hear such cases. The court had stayed the almost 200 cases affected by the act, pending the legal challenges to the MCA.

Two defendants pleaded guilty to conspiracy to unlawfully reproduce and distribute copyrighted music over the Internet, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg of the Eastern District of Virginia announced today.

Arthur Gomez, 25, of La Habra, Calif., pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema. His sentencing has been scheduled for July 13, 2007, at 9:00 a.m. Sergey Ribiakost, 21, of Bardonia, N.Y., pleaded guilty on April 17, 2007, before U.S. District Judge James C. Cacheris. His sentencing is scheduled for July 10, 2007, at 1:00 p.m. Both defendants pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit copyright infringement and face up to five years in prison, a fine of $250,000, and three years of supervised release.

Gomez and Ribiakost were leading members in the illegal software, game, movie and music trade online, commonly referred to as the warez scene. The defendants were active members of the pre-release music group Apocalypse Crew (APC), one of a handful of organized online criminal groups that acted as “first-providers” of much of the pirated music available on the Internet.

As a pre-release music group, APC sought to acquire digital copies of songs and albums before their commercial release in the United States. The supply of such pre-release music was often provided by music industry insiders, such as radio DJs, employees of music magazine publishers, or workers at compact disc manufacturing plants, who frequently receive advance copies of songs prior to their commercial release. Once a group prepared a stolen work for distribution, the material is distributed in minutes to secure computer servers throughout the world. From there, within a matter of hours, the pirated works are distributed globally, filtering down to peer-to-peer and other public file-sharing networks accessible to anyone with Internet access.

Ribiakost and Gomez represent the 46th and 47th convictions resulting from Operation FastLink, an ongoing federal crackdown against the organized piracy groups responsible for most of the first stage of illegal distribution of copyrighted movies, software, games and music on the Internet. Operation FastLink has resulted, to date, in more than 120 search warrants executed in 12 countries; the confiscation of hundreds of computers and illegal online distribution hubs; and the removal of more than 50 million dollars worth of illegally copied software, games, movies and music from illicit distribution channels. Operation FastLink is the culmination of multiple FBI undercover investigations, including an investigation into online pre-release music groups led by FBI agents from the Washington field office.

In the past five years, beginning with Operation Buccaneer in 2001, Operation FastLink in 2004, and Operation Site Down in 2005, the Department’s prosecutions of top piracy organizations have resulted in more than 100 felony convictions in the U.S. for copyright infringement and conspiracy to commit copyright infringement.

This case was prosecuted by Jay V. Prabhu, trial attorney for the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and its member companies assisted and cooperated with the FBI’s investigation in this case.

"GM posted record sales in the first quarter driven by exceptionally strong demand in emerging markets," said John Middlebrook, GM vice president, Global Sales, Service and Marketing Operations.

"We saw more than 20 percent growth in the Asia/Pacific region and had 17 percent growth in the Latin America, Africa and Middle East region," he said.

In the Asia/Pacific region, GM sold a record of 388,000 vehicles. GM remained the top-selling automaker in China and sold 100,000 vehicles in a month for only the second time.

In the Latin America, Africa and Middle East region, GM sales reached an industry-best 269,000 vehicles, a record for the fist quarter and up 17 percent in volume compared with 2006. Sales in Brazil were up 12 percent for the quarter.